Compulsion - The Greenhouse Academy

11: "E v e r H e a r d o f B l a c k m a i l i n g?"

"I wasn't looking for a fight,
but the fight found me in the blink of an eye
I was brought to my knees.
I can hear a voice calling.
You're calling my name, you're calling my name.
You call it out in the darkness;
You're calling my name, you're calling my name."

~ Born to Bring the Light by Cameron James.

"Let's be honest: Max and Ethan were up to something dodgy last night, therefore, we have no choice but to turn them into Louis ... right now."

Jackie glared at Hayley. "Don't ... you ... dare," she spat through gritted teeth.

"Whoa girls, let's just take a chill pill, alright?" Adalynn exclaimed, raising her hands and giving each of them a pointed look.

All three of them were trying to come up with a plan in a secluded corner of the Ravens' lounge. Adalynn had shown both Hayley and Jackie the video she'd taken of Max and Ethan the night before and none of them were very happy with the prospect that the boys could be doing something illegal.

"Urgh. Fine!" Hayley flopped back against the soft cushioned couch. "It's - it's just ..."

"Just what?" Jackie growled.

"Look, whenever we run into Max again, which we will do at some point or another, we can corner him and make him confess, okay?" Adalynn tried to make the peace.

Jackie just rolled her eyes. "As if that's gonna do any good. I don't reckon he'll say anything."

"Have you ever heard of blackmailing, Jackie?" Adalynn inquired, pointing at her phone. "We show Max the video and in return for him telling us the truth, we don't turn him in to Louis."

Hayley sat straight up. "Whoa, girl. Is there any more tricks up that sleeve of yours?"

Adalynn smirked. "Don't be silly, Hayley, it's just common sense." Just at that moment, a vibration rippled through the couch cushion that Adalynn was sitting on. She glanced down towards her phone, surprised. She had an incoming call. It was from MUM.

"Oh sorry, I gotta take this," Adalynn apologized as she snatched up her phone and hurried from the Ravens' lounge. She tapped the ACCEPT button and held the device to her ear as she exclaimed, "Mum! Hi!"

"Hey sweetie," came the voice from the other end of the line. "Oh my gosh, honey, I am SO sorry. Your father forgot to call you, well, not really forgot, it's just, the Groovers had a situation with their toddler so it was pretty hectic last night."

"Geez Mum, that's awful! Is - is everything alright?"

"Yeah, well, Little Ricky's in hospital now, recovering from a severe burn. It was pretty rough, but he's a toughie, he'll be okay. So right now we're babysitting the rest of his siblings, four in all. They're quite a handful."

"I can imagine! Wow. Tell Mrs Groover I said hello and send a message to Ricky for me, will you? Say a little birdie has been informed that he's not well and hopes that he'll recover soon."

Mrs Stanton started laughing. "Okay, sweetie, will do. Now - what about you? What's going on at the Ravens? Did you have fun last night?"

Adalynn hesitated before replying, "Yeah, actually ... we - er - we had a clubhouse party. So, that was - ahem - interesting."

Mrs Stanton chuckled. "You're not really one for parties are you, Ad?"

"Nope. Each of the new students had to do an item so, yeah, that just made it a whole lot worse."

"Aw hun you'll be fine. Well, I hope you're enjoying yourself. Study hard and get plenty of rest, okay?"

"You know I will, Mum."

"Alright, sweetie, love you, bye bye."

"Bye."

"Who was that?" Hayley yelled out from across the room.

"Mum," Adalynn called back as she hurried over towards them and scooted back into her seat. "Well, what's the plan? How are we going to get to Max?"

Jackie smirked and cocked one eyebrow. "Leave that to me, dear Ad. I know how to handle Max."

____

SMASH.

Adalynn and Hayley both jumped in shock. It was late afternoon and the two were being extremely anti-social and starting another binge watching session on Netflix. Louis had been unusually generous and had allowed the Ravens and Eagles to recover from their raucous all-night parties by giving them the day off lessons. Almost everyone else was either asleep or chilling on the back veranda overlooking the beach.

"Uh ... what was that?" Hayley broke the silence by asking.

Adalynn opened her mouth to reply but didn't get a chance to respond. The door suddenly flew open and Jackie stormed in, dragging a whimpering Max with her. One of her hands was grasping the front of his shirt and the other was holding him in a head-lock.

"I've got him!" Jackie exclaimed in triumph as she dumped Max down on the floor and kicked the door shut.

"JACKIE!" both girls yelled in unison.

"W-what are you doing?" Hayley cried. "This was not part of the plan!"

"We didn't have a plan, genius," Jackie scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, this is better than nothing."

"Aw, poor Maxie," Adalynn stuck out her lower lip in a pout as she scrambled off the bed and plonked herself onto the floor beside her friend.

Jackie screwed her face up in disgust and Hayley heaved a deep sigh of annoyance.

"W-why am I being kidnapped?" Max hiccuped, glancing from one girl to the next. "W-what did I do?"

Adalynn looked over her shoulder, making eye contact with Hayley, who nodded. "Max, this is gonna sound crazy, but I promise you, we're not bad people."

"W-what do you mean?" Max whined. "What's going on?"

"Max!" Adalynn grasped his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "You need to concentrate, do you understand? You may be in serious trouble, alright? You could be expelled, so you need to cooperate with us!"

Max inhaled sharply. "W-what?"

"What Adalynn's trying to say, Max," Hayley interrupted, "is that we have a video, a video that could easily expel both you and your brother Ethan. We're gonna show it to Louis unless you confess and tell us what on earth happened to you last night."

Max's face drained of all colour and his jaw-line hardened. "Y-you followed us?"

"No, we didn't," Jackie butted in, closing in on him. "It was taken through the bathroom window. But we will follow you two next time and the time after that and the time after that, got it? We will eventually find out what's going on so trust me, just tell us now and you can escape the humiliation and pain of leaving this place for good. Do you really wanna do that? To your parents? To your brother?"

"Adi," Max turned pleading eyes towards her. "Please, please tell me you're not a part of this."

Hayley quickly jumped in before a floundering Adalynn could find the words to respond. "She's the one who took the video, dumb ass."

Max's trusting, hopeful expression fell and his eyes darkened. "I see how it is. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're gonna have to see me and Ethan get expelled because I'm not gonna tell you anything ever."

____

Gif: Adalynn on her phone.